Wedge for securing handles in tools



(No Model.) v

J. OKEEPE.

WEDG-EPOR SEGURINGHANDLES'IN TOOLS. I

No. 600,741. Patented Mar. 15,1 89 8..

Nirnn TATES JOHN OKEEFE, OF TI-IORNDIKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WEDGE FOR SECURING HANDLES IN TOOLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,741, dated March 15, 189 8. Application filed November 6, 1897- Serial No. 657,639. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, JOHN OKEEFE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Thorndike, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Wedges for Securing Handles in Ax-Heads and other Tools, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in ax or tool handle wedges, and particularly to improvements in the form of such wedges and in means for easily removing said wedges from the ends of handles into which theyhave been driven; and the invention consists in the construction, substantially as described in the accompanying specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this speci fication, Figure 1 shows an ax-head in section with a handle, partly in section, having a wedge made according to this invention in the end of said handle in operative position. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top plan View of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a wedge and its curved crosswedge for removing the same. Fig. 5 is a top plan View of a wedge having a form varying slightly from those shown in the preceding figures.

The curved extracting cross-wedge is shown in dotted lines.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a part of the head of an ax. B represents the handle; 0, the wedge, which is driven into the end of said handle for securing it in the eye of the ax-head, and D the curved extracting cross-wedge by means of which said wedge O is easily started out from its position after it has been driven into the end of the handle. Said wedge 0 consists of a main portion 2, having oppositely-tapering sides 3 3, terminating in the thin edge 4. Extending along opposite edges of said main portion 2 from the top downward are two narrow wedges 5, having oppositely-tapered sides lying at right angles to the tapered sides 3 of the wedge O and terminating in the thin edges 6 6,.which are in substantially the same plane horizontally as the edge 4: of the main portion 2 of the wedge. The said wedges 5 are separated from the said main portion 2 of the wedge O by the spaces 7, and the lower edges 8 of that part of said main portion uniting said wedge 5 thereto are also tapered to an edge to permit of the easy entrance of the construction as a whole into the end of the ax-handle.

A hole 9, extending transversely through the main portion of the wedge O, is located substantially midway between the wedges 5 and near the upper extremity thereof. Said hole is preferably of the form shown in the drawings, and lying within it is the said curved extracting cross-wedge D, consisting of a spherical head 12, a curved necked-down portion 13, and an upturned smaller end 14, the upper surface of which is substantially of spherical form. From a point lying under said end 14: and extending back under said necked-down portion 13 and toward said head 12 the said wedge is of V shape in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 1 and indicated by 15, said \l-shaped portion curving 'upward slightly at each end thereof and merging into the curve of said spherical head 12 and said upturned smaller end 14:, the curve at the said smaller end being more abrupt than at the opposite end. The position occupied by the said curved extracting cross-wedge D in the hole 9 is substantially that shown in the drawingsviz., with the upper edge of said hole bearing on the necked-down portion 13 of said wedge, the spherical head 12 and the upturned smaller end 14 serving to retain the extracting cross-wedge in the wedge O. In this position the said extracting cross-wedge D is partially forced into the end of the handle when the wedge O is driven into it to secure the ax-head or other tool thereto, the V- shaped form 15 of the under side of said extracting cross-wedge D tending to facilitate such entrance. The positions of the said extracting cross-wedge D when partially forced into the end of said handle are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Should it become necessary to still further drive in the wedge C to tighten the ax-head upon the handle, said cross-wedge D would be driven into said handle to a greater extent than shown in the drawings.

To remove the ax-head or other tool from the handle, the spherical head 12 of the extracting cross-wedge D is struck with a hammer in a direction which will drive said head 12 through the hole 9. This causes the curved under side of the small upturned end 14 of said extracting cross-wedge D as it is forced against the wood on which it rests to take an upward course diagonal to the plane of the wedge C, the curved necked-down portion 13 of the extracting cross-wedge D being forced against the upper edge of the hole 9 in the wedge C, and the constantly-increasing diameter of the said extracting cross-wedge D forces said wedge C out of the end of the hani dle to such an extent that it can be easily withdrawn.

Heretofore the means usually employed for removing a wedge from the end of .a tool-handle have been to heat the tool until the end a of the handle has been charred or burned away sufficiently to permit the easy with-' drawal of the wedge. This process is one which requi-resconsiderable time anddestroys a part of the handle, as well as in the'caseof an ax or other edged tool-drawing the temper thereof and necessitating Tetempe-ring.

'In 5 is shown a slight modification of v the form of the wedge O, which consists in making a wedge having the wedge 5 located 1 diagonally to the plane of the body of the, main wedge insteadof at right angles thereto. 3 In a wedge of this construction instead of;

making said side Wedges 5 of a quadrilateral one wedge is located opposite the convex-side on the other wedge. The purpose of this construction is to force the sides of the main body of the wedge G, on which said Wedges 5 are located, laterally to the right and left, respectively, in lines transverse to the Vertical plane of said main body of the wedge C, whereby said wedge may be made to grip more firmly the wood of the handle into which it may be driven by giving it a certain degree of lateral twist by the form of said wedges 5 and their location relative to the main body of said wedge C.

.Havin g thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a wedge for securing an ax-head or other tool to its handle, of acurvedtapering-cross-wedge, in engagement with said first-named wedge, the-ends of said cross-wedge lying normally, one on each side of said first-named wedge, and bearing on the end of the tool-handle, when in operative position therein, substantially as described.

2. In combination, a wedge for securing an ax-head or other toolto its handle, consisting of a tapered main body, two wedges located on opposite edges of said main body and at an angle thereto, said side wedges being integral with said main body, and separated therefrom tor a portion of their length, and a curved wedge normally in engagement with the main bodyof said wedge, and bearing on the end of the handle when said first-named wedge is in operative position, substantially as described.

JOHN OKEEFE.

Witnesses A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMoNs. 

